Yeah. Maybe Port Macquarie too. Not sure about the airport being the Gold Cost stop, but there'd be one there somewhere. Perhaps midpoint of Lismore/Ballina might be the location there. But this is all way ahead of ourselves.
I'm surprised they are installing new ones. In this country, they're trying to reduce the number of street posting boxes.
I'm not really a cricket expert, but to my uneducated eye, that looks like a chuck.
Printed advert in the door of a high street waxing salon advertising eyebrow lamination and full face wax, with an image of a woman getting (presumably) a full face wax, but she has some sort of growth above her right eyebrow that looks maybe like a finger or maybe something else.
Ummm?
After withdrawal, no 969 lived on from about 2013 to 2016 as a bar named "Tram Stop 14 1/2" installed on the forecourt of the Arts Centre in St Kilda Road. I don't know where it went after that.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W6...
SW6 class tram no 969 in Met green and yellow livery, with trolley pole raised, runs away from us on a section of reserved track in the median of a dual carriageway. A tram stop with a 1980s era tram stop sign and a wooden bench seat is at left between the roadway and the tram track. A series of ornate silver-painted poles stand between the tracks and support the trolley wires on each track from bracket arms. A second tram, an SW5 class, also painted in Met green and yellow, is approaching us on the other track in the distance.
Today's historic pic: SW6 class tram no 969, the last of the 120-strong SW6 class fleet to enter service in 1951, runs an outbound route 64 along reserved track in the median of Dandenong Road at Closeburn Avenue, Prahran, November 12 1988. SW5 843 on route 5 is in the distance.
Thread started someone named scatterlyrics who asks 'Have you ever met someone truly evil?' To which user kazzzmer replies 'My cousin is Stephen Miller'. That exchange is screenshot by jeffeyges who intros it with 'Damn, No one will ever agon win the internet this hard. To which mary_l_trupm replies 'Actually....'
Threads is not renowned for its humour. But this was not bad.
The most Australian of controversies.
Actually a hybrid suffuptroversy.
This is part of my reason for exasperation here. A lack of ambition will entrench a sub-par railway. And that puts it at risk of being perceived as irrelevant. If it matters, do it properly, quickly and at low risk using proven technology.
There is a third choice. And whilst ever that's not on the table then we're just faffing around I'm afraid.
So, experiment if you want. But don't delay electrification, and don't put it at risk of failure of the experiment.
If it is successful, it won't "change everything". It could at best mean that electrification of railways could be done at less cost (to be determined)
In the meantime, for however long that takes, the lines don't get electrified. And there's a 50/50 chance it fails
Just electrify it properly now.
The lack of any mention of the remaining non-electrified lines (from Adelaide to Outer Harbor, Grange and Port Dock) begs the question of whether an electrification announcement for those lines is still in the promises pipeline. Or whether this is just a buy-time excuse to NOT electrify those lines.
They could have the whole Adelaide rail network fully electrified with proven overhead wire technology before the end of the 4 year term of the next government if they actually wanted it.
But, no.
Of course, any railway can be made compatible with overhead electrification infrastructure if it matters enough. It may mean track lowering through tunnels and beneath bridges, and that costs money, but as ever, this is not a technical incompatibility, it is a political and cultural decision.
The state Labor party today announced it would spend $3.5 million to trial an Australian-first battery passenger train trial if re-elected, while the SA Liberals were out bagging their rival’s ambulance ramping record. Labor would trial a battery passenger train on the Belair rail line, which currently uses modified diesel hybrid trains. The party said there were no battery passenger trains in operation in Australia.
The party promised to work with industry to develop the specific requirements for the Belair line, which is not compatible with traditional overhead electric infrastructure. Labor pointed to successful networks of battery passenger trains in Japan, Ireland, Croatia and America. “If the trial is successful, it could save taxpayers millions of dollars, removing the need for overhead infrastructure to electrify passenger rail lines,” Labor’s Emily Bourke said. “Following the success of the battery bus trial, we are replacing the old diesel buses with new electric ones, and we have the same ambition to phase out the diesel hybrid trains.” The Liberals’ public transport policy to date is a commitment to making all regular Adelaide Metro fares 50 cents. The Greens this week announced a plan to return passenger rail to the Adelaide Hills via an extension of the Belair Line to Mount Barker, saying it would cost $700 million, with trains to run every half hour.
The ALP today announced it would spend $3.5 million to run an Australian-first battery passenger train trial if re-elected in SA. The party promised to develop specific requirements for the Belair line, which is not compatible* with traditional overhead electric infrastructure.
*Narrator: Says who?
Light rail services between central Sydney and the eastern suburbs were suspended for about four hours on Thursday while the private operator assessed a small fire that broke out on one of its trams during peak hour and the risk to the rest of its fleet.
The fire on the roof of the tram forced the suspension of services about 8.20am. Firefighters responded and climbed on top of the vehicle at the Chalmers Street stop near Central Station. Firefighters on the roof of the smoking tram at the Chalmers Street stop near Central Station on Thursday morning. The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), which represents drivers and other staff, claimed it was the third tram fire in a week and demanded an urgent investigation. Private operator Transdev said it had suspended services on the entire L2 and L3 lines between Circular Quay and Randwick and Kingsford as a precaution "given recent similar events" "This pause allows us to complete a thorough risk assessment and ensure all appropriate safety controls are in place before we resume operations," the French company said in a statement. Services resumed again between Central Station and Randwick and Kingsford about 1pm.
Earlier, a witness posted on social media that he saw the fire on the tram's roof when it was at a Surry Hills stop and banged on the "driver's cubicle to tell him to stop, but he ignored us and continued on to Central". RTBU divisional president Peter Grech said the latest incident raised serious questions about the safety of the light rail network and warranted an urgent investigation by transport officials and the state's safety regulator. "Three fires in one week should be setting off alarm bells. Without immediate action, there's a real risk to commuters and light rail workers," he said. Grech said there were serious questions about the condition and maintenance of the network operated by Transdev, and whether the tram fleet was being properly maintained. Transdev said the incident on the tram at Chalmers Street on Thursday morning was "quickly contained", and there were no injuries to customers or staff.
Hang on, what?
Three 'tram fires' in one week??
Is this a beat-up or is there something real happening here?
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...
Ah, so its's all a big stunt.
Guardian headline: “Bob Carr, ‘a masterpiece’ and a hornet queer fantasy”
And this, kids, is why we need Oxford commas…
A pantograph on an electric vehicle raised to contact overhead power supply set against a deep blue sky
Don't be screwed by high oil prices.
Pantos up!
(PR is my passion)
A late afternoon telephoto shot looking away from the sun along a pair of parallel railway tracks towards a railway station in a provincial city. A 7 car DEB set in candy livery is travelling away from us on the left hand track. It is approaching a two-arm bracket semaphore signal on which the left hand arm is displaying proceed and the right hand arm is at stop.
Today's historic pic: The Sydney-bound Canberra Monaro Express, run by a 7 car DEB set with HPF959 at rear, nears Queanbeyan, NSW, November 1985. The train is arriving from Canberra and is approaching the bracket home signal projecting the junction of the Canberra and Cooma lines
Two nations under different skies, with the same values and ambitions. The Land Down Under and the Truth North Strong and Free. 🇦🇺🇨🇦
Last week I spent an hour in a waiting room with nothing but Murdoch tabloids to read and Sky News on the TV with Chris Kenny interviewing Pauline Hanson then bloviating about Sharri Markson and Bondi.
It was a genuine eye-opener for me to be force-fed a firehose of BS from the underbelly of media.
A side-on view of a green-liveried small diesel shunting locomotive in a rail yard in the middle distance. In the foreground are some bogie flat wagons, and at left isa wooden bodies passenger carriage. In the right background are some louvre vans, and a guards van with passenger accommodation.
Today's historic pic: Queensland Railways 1067mm narrow gauge Gardner-engined 1-C diesel mechanical loco DL4 Almaden sits in the yard at Townsville, Qld, July 22 1986. Four DLs were built over a 22 year period from 1939-1961. DL4 is today the backup loco and shunter at Normanton.
It's almost as if I'd read it.
Come to think of it, I should do so. From which biblio-vendor can one procure a copy?
And yet, New Zealanders are famous for being global travellers. A backpacking tour of Europe is virtually a Kiwi rite of passage - perhaps even more so than for Australians. And you'd hope and expect that many of them may experience the wonders of a Eurail Pass. Or a Japan rail pass maybe.
Theoretical timetable that could be run on the current single track between Canberra and Goulburn:
Depart Canberra:
06:00, 07:30, 12:30, 17:00
Arrive Canberra
11:30, 16:30, 20:30, 22:30
The other possibility IMHO is to run a fourth daily train without the need for any crosses on the single track and without any track upgrades by running two northbounds each morning before the first southbound enters the single track. And v/v in the evenings. Stable 2 trains overnight in Canberra.
Yes, they could. And that's the most likely thing actually. The XPLorers will remain in service in addition to the new trains, it's possible some trains could run as 2x3 car sets.
They have in the past converted at least one of the sitting cars into a sleeping car. So it's quite possible this could be done.
